Windows is the biggest target for malware, hands down. But it's not the only target. If you use devices running other operating systems, you want one security suite that can protect them all. You can use your ESET Multi-Device Security Pack licenses to protect your Windows, macOS, Android, and Linux devices. However, it's more expensive and less effective than its best competitors, and you'll have to look elsewhere for iOS protection.

Pricing for this bundle has changed since my last review. It used to cost $84.99 for six licenses, or $99.99 per year for 10 licenses. Now pricing starts at $79.99 for three licenses, with each additional license (up to 10) costing another $10. That means you'd pay $149.99 for 10 licenses. That's steep, though Panda Gold Protection charges almost that much for just three licenses. With Symantec Norton Security Premium, you get 10 licenses and 25GB of online backup storage for $109.99.

A few suites don't put any hard limits on the number of licenses. McAfee LiveSafe covers every device in your household (Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS) for $99.99 per year.

Getting Started

After you purchase Multi-Device Security, you get an email with a download link and license key. Just click the link, download the desired software, and install it. I am slightly disappointed that the download page doesn't detect your operating system and offer the appropriate choices. Nope; you must click to choose Windows, Mac, Android, or Linux.

On a Windows box, you can use a license to install either ESET Internet Security or ESET NOD32 Antivirus. I'm not clear on why anyone would install the standalone antivirus when the entry-level suite is available, but it's an option.

In a similar fashion, Mac users can install either the basic ESET Cyber Security (for Mac) or the Pro edition, which adds parental control and a personal firewall. Here the choice isn't as clear-cut. Many people don't need parental control, and they might not care about a personal firewall.

On Android, you can install ESET Mobile Security for Android, ESET Parental Control for Android, or both. You use up a license for every installation of the mobile security app, but a singe license lets you install parental control on all your Android devices. Finally, you can protect your Linux boxes with ESET NOD32 Antivirus for Linux Desktop.

Shared Features

As noted, on Windows you can install either ESET NOD32 Antivirus or ESET Internet Security. Please read my review for details on what you get with that product. Note that Multi-Device Security doesn't give you the password manager and file encryption system that come with the top-of-the-line ESET Smart Security Premium.

ESET Cyber Security (for Mac) received certification from both independent labs that perform tests under macOS. It includes an unusually elaborate scheduling system, phishing protection that fared poorly in my hands-on tests, and several useful bonus tools. Here, too, you can read my review for details.

Added Features for macOS

The Pro edition of ESET Cyber Security (for Mac) adds firewall and parental control components. When the firewall component detects that you're connecting to a new network, it asks whether to treat the network as Home, Work, or Public. Based on your choice, it configures the firewall rules. You can dig into the settings to view these rules, though you may not understand them all. Certainly, you shouldn't make any changes unless you're a trained expert.

By default, the firewall handles application permissions automatically. If you select the Interactive mode, you'll get a query every time a new program attempts a new type network or internet access. In addition to allowing or denying access, you can choose to create a rule, so it won't ask again, or have the firewall remember your answer until the process terminates.

On the Profiles tab, you can create a new profile based on Home, Work, or Public, and then dig in to modify it. But there's no reason for the average user to do that. There's also a Zones tab, which displays an empty list and a button to add a zone. I didn't understand this one myself, and clicking the help button just got me a message that the content was unavailable. Your best bet is to just let the firewall do its job, as its default settings are fine.

After you enable Cyber Security Pro's parental control, you must select a role for each user account, Parent, Teenager, or Child. Doing so configures the content filter to block a selection from more than two dozen content categories. You can fine-tune the selections if the defaults don't suit you.

I turned on the content filter at the Teenager level for one user account. I found that it correctly blocked all the naughty websites I tried, and even blocked lingerie sites like Victoria's Secret and Spanx. However, it did nothing to prevent an image search for naughty pictures. A search for "naked girls" got me an eyeful, and I found I could click through on some of the links to reach entire pages devoted to lewd images. In addition, the content filter can't filter HTTPS traffic, so all a clever teen needs to evade filtering is a secure anonymizing proxy website.

It's worth noting that modern versions of macOS have parental controls built in. Parents can prevent use of certain apps, limit website access, disable access to the iTunes store and other stores, and allow only movies, shows, apps, and books with age-appropriate ratings. Time scheduling is available, along with a simplified desktop and a few other features. The built-in parental control system offers the option "Try to limit access to adult websites," but no detailed control over other content categories.

For comparison, I turned off ESET and enabled the built-in parental control. It correctly blocked raunchy sites, though it didn't bother with the lingerie sites. It forced Safe Search in Safari (but not Chrome). It even filtered HTTPS traffic, also in Safari but not in Chrome. If your aim is just to keep your kids away from adult content, the built-in macOS parental control system is better than Cyber Security Pro's content filter. Just use its app control page to deny the children any browsers other than Safari.

ESET Mobile Security

ESET Mobile Security (for Android) is a full-featured security suite that offers antivirus, anti-theft, phishing protection, and the ability to filter texts and phone calls. It also offers a security audit for apps and a security summary report.

The antivirus scan works at two levels, Smart and In-Depth. On the Motorola Moto G5 Plus I used for testing, a Smart scan finished in just a few seconds, and reported no problems. The In-Depth scan didn't take much longer. The antivirus also checks new apps as they appear, and you can set it to scan when the device is charging, or schedule it to scan automatically on any or all days of the week.

You can manage the anti-theft component from the ESET online console, just as you do with the Windows version. There's also an option to send coded texts to the device to locate, lock, or wipe it, but the online console is much easier to use.

When you mark a device as missing, Mobile Security locks it down and displays a warning page that offers three options. A helpful person who finds a lost phone can tap to contact the owner. If you find it yourself, you can tap to unlock it with the password you set up during installation. There's even a button to allow an emergency call from the locked device, which is something I don't often see.

Mobile Security regularly reports on the status of the missing device for two weeks. It regularly reports the location, uploads photos, and notes the IP address of the device. If the location report reveals that the device is somewhere near you, one tap will start a loud siren to help you find it. You can also wipe a hopelessly lost device, or report that you recovered it.

The anti-phishing component integrates with Chrome and other preinstalled stock browsers. If you're about to visit a fraudulent website, it displays a warning, but lets you choose whether to avoid the page or proceed. My advice? Don't proceed!

Security Audit warns if you're connected to insecure Wi-Fi. It also reports settings that hinder your security, like having debug mode enabled, or allowing apps from unknown sources. And it can warn when your device runs low on memory.

More importantly, Security Audit checks all your apps and reports how many of them have these potentially risky permissions: using paid services, tracking your location, reading identity information, accessing messages, and accessing contacts. It also reports apps that have device administrator privileges, a status that gives them a high degree of control. Tap each category and review the list of apps to see if anything looks fishy. It makes sense that Google Maps needs access to your location, but if you see a flashlight app in the location list, consider uninstalling it. Note that the similar auditing feature in Norton Security and Antivirus (for Android) takes the concept to the next level, offering warnings about iffy apps before you even download them.

Features described so far apply to both tablets and smartphones. On a smartphone, you can configure Mobile Security to detect a SIM card switch and send the new SIM card details to a trusted number. Call filtering lets you control who can call you. As with competing products, text filtering only works on antiquated Android versions older than 4.4. You can make rules for individuals, groups, numbers in your contacts, numbers not in your contacts, and hidden numbers, and it's easy to make a rule for the last call you received. There's even an option to define when each rule applies. For example, you could ban nighttime calls from all but your most important contacts.

The Security Audit component adds a couple entries for a smartphone. Specifically, it warns when data roaming and call roaming are active. Overall, ESET Mobile Security has everything you want in a security product for tablet or smartphone.

Android Parental Control

On macOS and Windows, ESET offers the bare minimum of parental control. It filters inappropriate content and reports on blocked pages, no more. The Android version, by contrast, is a full-featured parental control tool. I've reviewed the standalone ESET Parental Control (for Android), which is precisely what you get with Multi-Device. Read that review for the gritty details; I'll summarize here.

Like Norton and Kaspersky Safe Kids (for Android), ESET offers a single app with a child mode and a parent mode. You switch to parent mode by entering your passcode, then switch back to child mode with a tap. I do imagine most parents will simply install the app on their own Android devices.

While you can use the parent app for configuration, it's easier to manage settings in the online console. From the console you can define and configure profiles for any number of children and associate each child with any number of Android devices.

Under Web Guard you can configure the content filter to block or allow 35 content categories. There's also an option to just monitor unwanted categories without blocking. The content filter handles HTTPS sites, so your kids won't slip past it by using a secure anonymizing proxy.

The other face of parental control is the Application Guard. Based on the age range you choose, this component identifies every app as Appropriate (meaning the child may use it), Inappropriate (meaning no access), or Fun & Games. Parents can apply daily limits to use of apps in the Fun & Games category, or set a weekly schedule for when the child can use those apps. As with the content filter, you can choose to monitor without blocking.

From the online console or the parent-mode app, the reporting system gives you an overview of recent activity. You can dig in for details on blocked websites and visits to appropriate sites. If you've set the utility to just monitor rather than blocking, you'll get stats on visits to inappropriate websites. And you can view stats for today, yesterday, the past week, or the past 30 days.

The parental control app also reports app usage over the same choice of time periods, and breaks out usage of apps defined as Fun & Games separately. An unusual usage heat map charts device usage over time for each hour of the day. If you see a lot of usage when the child should be asleep, it's time for a conversation.

ESET Parental Control (for Android) doesn't have every parental control feature. It doesn't let you locate the child, or monitor calls and texts, for example. But it's vastly more effective than ESET's parental control under Windows or macOS.

Uneven Protection

You can use your ESET Multi-Device Security licenses to install protection on your Windows, macOS, and Android devices. However, protection isn't consistent across all platforms. It's very good on Android, with a powerful antivirus and anti-theft tool and a full-featured parental control app. On Windows, antivirus is its best feature. Other features such as parental control and firewall are less impressive, and you don't get all the features of ESET's top-tier suite. The macOS edition offers firewall and parental control in addition to antivirus, but here, too, the parental control system is weak.

Symantec Norton Security Premium is our Editors' Choice for cross-platform multi-device security suites. You get 10 licenses for quite a bit less than ESET's price, and you can use them to install protection on your Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices. In addition, Norton gives you 25GB of online storage for your backups. Like most such suites, its iOS support is weakest, due to Apple's limitations. But its protection is consistently superior on the other platforms.

Neil Rubenking served as vice president and president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years when the IBM PC was brand new. He was present at the formation of the Association of Shareware Professionals, and served on its board of directors. In 1986, PC Magazine brought Neil on board to handle the torrent of Turbo Pascal tips submitted by readers. By 1990, he had become PC Magazine's technical editor, and a coast-to-coast telecommuter. His "User to User" column supplied readers with tips...
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